


Come Home To Me

by wanheda_two_heda



Series: First Kisses, Last Kisses, Slow Kisses, Desperate Kisses [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Air Force, Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Best Friends, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 16:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14773343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanheda_two_heda/pseuds/wanheda_two_heda
Summary: Zeke ships out in the morning, and Raven doesn't know if she can handle her best friend leaving.Based off the prompt: a kiss as a promise.





	Come Home To Me

Raven knows that she should be having fun. All her friends are here, the weather is nice, the food is almost ready, but she’s not. Her mood is down, and her heart aches. She just wants the night to be over so that she can go home and stop wearing the fake smile that’s been plastered to her face since that afternoon when she’d shown up at Clarke and Bellamy’s. She didn’t want to smile, because she wasn’t happy. She was the furthest thing from happy.

She excuses herself from the group when it seems like they’re all too caught up in conversation to notice that she’s walking away and heads for the kitchen, eager for a moment to herself to just allow herself to feel everything that’s eating away at her. But the world can’t let her have that. Of course not. Because as soon as she thinks that the tears are finally going to come, the back door open and someone comes in, so she pulls herself together and plasters the smile back on her face.

“Having fun?” Zeke asks, coming up to her and handing a beer.

She lets the smile fall because it’s Zeke, and he’s her best friend, and he  _ knows _ . “Not exactly, no,” she says with a scowl and then takes a swig from her bottle. 

“Come on, Reyes, don’t be like that,” he says, his voice still sure. He runs his hand down her arm to twine just the tips of his fingers through hers and pulls her closer. “I saw you come inside, and I thought I’d come check on you.”

She lets him pull her into his chest and take the beer from her hand. He puts it down on the counter next to his and wraps his arms around her, locking his hands around her and resting his chin on top of her head. Raven sighs and hugs him back. She can hear the others outside on the patio chattering and passing around plates of food, burgers and steaks and chicken that Clarke had marinated and Bellamy had been cooking all evening. But instead of focusing on that, she concentrates on the steady heartbeat against her cheek, her best friend’s heart beating away, safe and sure. She’s so scared that this’ll be her last time hearing it.

“You know,” he says, and she feels his chest rumble as he talks and she holds him tighter. “A year ago, you couldn’t wait for me to leave and never come back.”

“Shut up.” She tries to laugh, but it’s shaky. Her tears are so close.”

“I’m serious. You were so stubborn and refused to talk to me. And then you just started talking to me just to tell me off.”

When she speaks this time, her voice is watery with the tears she just can’t hold back anymore. “God, you were so cocky,” she says with a laugh. “You were the typical Air Force pilot walking into a bar thinking he could get any woman he wanted.”

She can practically feel his smirk. “You were jealous. Admit it.”

“No way. You were just annoying. The friend group already had one over-confident brainiac, and you were trying to take my place.”

She sniffles, and his hand brushes up and down her back to comfort her which is what finally allows the dam to break. She sobs, her hands knotting into the back of Zeke’s shirt, and he rocks her side to side, humming soothing noises close to her ear. 

“I don’t want you to go,” she says with a hiccup. 

“I’ll be back in nine months,” he says, but it doesn’t make her feel any better.

“You can’t promise that. You don’t know that.”

“Raven,” he sighs. “Don’t do that. Don’t go there.”

“You’re leaving. To go to war. Zeke, I can’t lose you like that.”

He holds her while she shakes with quiet sobs, letting loose all her fears and worries about him deploying. She knows that he’s done it before, and she knows that it’s what he signed up for, but this is the first time that he’s left after coming into her life, and she’s scared. She’s scared to lose him. He’s become so important to her, such an integral part of her life, that she can’t imagine ever letting him go. He told her almost two months ago that he was being sent to Iraq. She’s had two months to get used to the idea. But now, he’s leaving in the morning, and this is his goodbye barbecue with their friends, and it all just feels so real.

“I’m coming back, Raven. I’m coming back.”

The back door opens and she startles, wanting to pull back, but he doesn’t let her go. He keeps his hold on her just as tight and doesn’t let her back away. 

“Sorry,” Jasper stutters. “I’ll come back.”

Neither of them answer him, and Raven waits until the door shuts before she tips her head back to look up into his eyes. 

“You’re not gonna lose me, okay?” he says, and she almost believes him.

“You’re my best friend,” is all she can manage, and it kind of sounds like goodbye. 

He reaches up and cups her cheeks with his palms so he can wipe her tears away with his thumbs. But then he doesn’t move his hands, and she can’t look away from his gaze. He leans his head down and her breath stops when he presses his mouth gently to hers. 

“Zeke,” she whispers when he pulls back, and it’s enough to have him crashing his lips to hers.

She holds him tight by the collar of his open flannel and makes a low, desperate whine when he swipes his tongue over the seam of her mouth. Zeke’s hand slides into her hair to hold her closer, his other hand going to her hip and his thumb rubbing soft circles into her skin.

“I have to come home now,” he says. “I need to come back, because I need to do that again for the rest of my life.”

She laughs a small laugh and smiles. “Please come home.”

“I will,” he promises. “I’ll be safe, and I’ll come home.”

He holds her close, his forehead pressed against her cheek as she tucks her face into the crook of his neck. He words sound hopeful, but it’s his lips that keep finding her skin which drives his promise home. Zeke will come back, and she’ll see him again. He swears.


End file.
